


Double Dates

by natashasbanner



Series: 30 Days of Bruce/Natasha Fluff [23]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-11 01:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16465712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natashasbanner/pseuds/natashasbanner
Summary: When Tony asked them to go to the movies with him and Pepper, Bruce didn't think he meant a movie premiere. The spotlight was never really their thing.





	Double Dates

**Author's Note:**

> I love writing them as famous. It's very fun. Please enjoy :D

“Come to the city, he said,” Bruce grumbled as he paced the length of their hotel room. “It’ll be fun, he said.” 

Natasha sat at the end of the bed, watching him pace. Her lips were turned up in an amused smirk as he fumbled with his bow tie. 

“What were you expecting?” She asked when he stopped in front of the mirror to fix the tie. “A quiet double date at the movies with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts?” 

“I don’t know,” he grumbled, trying and failing to fix the knotted mess around his neck. “Not a damn movie premiere.” 

Natasha took pity on him and stood from the bed. She walked over, careful to keep her dress from dragging against the floor and tapped his shoulder. He turned around and blew out a breath, dropping his hands to his side with a slap. 

“You didn’t have to say yes,” she reminded him and started undoing the knot at his throat. 

“I didn’t really have a choice,” he argued. 

“Then what’s the big deal?” Natasha asked softly. “We walk down the carpet behind Tony and Pepper, pose for a couple photos and then enjoy the movie about his life. Easy.” 

His shoulders relaxed a little and Natasha finally got the tie undone. She started doing it up right and noticed Bruce smiling down at her. 

“What?” she asked, ducking her head. 

“Nothing,” he said after a few beats of heavy silence. “Thank you.” 

Natasha finished off the bow tie with a flourish and leaned up to kiss his lips softly. 

“Don’t mention it.” She patted his chest and went back over to the bed to put on her heels. 

Her dress was long with a short train, off the shoulder. The deep green color matched the pocket square sticking out of Bruce’s tux jacket. Pepper found it of course, insisted that it was absolutely her color and Natasha was powerless to argue with her. It fit like a glove and was stunning. 

If she was being honest, she understood some of Bruce’s nerves. She’d never been comfortable with their low level of celebrity being a part of the six that saved New York and being associated with Tony put them in the public eye by default. They’d been caught a few times by the paparazzi outside the tower, but this was a concentrated hoard of photographers and reporters. She was just better at internalizing her nerves than Bruce. 

With her heels on she stood from the bed, she reached for Bruce’s hand and pulled him toward the door. 

“Just try to have fun,” she said as they made their way down the hall to the elevator. 

Bruce smiled at her and nodded. “You’re right. This’ll be fun.” 

“I can’t wait to see the dramatized version of Tony’s life.” 

He chuckled as the elevator doors closed. “I think it’ll make the rest of the night worth it.” 

* * *

A car was waiting for them when they reached the hotel lobby.

“Mr. Stark asked me to tell you that he and Ms. Potts will be meeting you at the venue,” their driver informed them as they got into the backseat of the car. 

“Thank you,” Bruce said as he closed the door behind him. 

The drive to the theater wasn’t long, but traffic was horrendous. They had the entire block the theater was closed off for the premiere and there was a ton of security to get through before they made it anywhere near the red carpet. 

A young woman with an earpiece and official lanyard hanging from her neck opened their door on Bruce’s side. The sound of camera shutters and screaming fans met him as soon as the door was cracked and was suddenly rethinking ever agreeing to this. Natasha’s hand was on his in the back seat in a moment and he felt a reassuring squeeze. His nerves settled a little and he slid to get out of the car. 

“Good evening Dr. Banner,” she greeted with a rushed smile as he got out of the car. 

Bruce turned and held out his hand for Natasha. He helped her out of the car, careful not to stand on her dress. 

“Ms. Romanoff,” she said quickly and pulled her phone from her pocket. “I’m here to make sure this goes as smoothly as possible.

“Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts will be arriving shortly, in the meantime, I’ll be walking you down the carpet. There are a couple magazines that have a few question, but it’s up to you of course.” 

Bruce looked at Natasha and saw her shrug. “That’s fine,” he said. 

“Okay, let’s get to it,” she said and headed for the beginning of the carpet. “My name’s Lydia by the way.” 

“Nice to meet you, Lydia,” Natasha said and slid her arm into the crook of Bruce’s elbow. 

She took the lead and followed Lydia who gestured for the first stop on the carpet. It was a wall covered in the movie logo opposite what looked like a wall of cameras. Bruce recognized the pair in front of them as the actor who played Tony’s father in the movie and his wife. Photographers hollered at them over the sound of the camera lenses shuttering at a rapid speed. Bruce gulped and felt Natasha’s fingers tighten around his arm. 

“This won’t take long,” Lydia assured them and lead the way into the flashing lights. 

The yelling increased along with the flashes when the photographers realized who they were.

“Dr. Banner over here,” one of them called and Bruce squinted against the blinding light. 

“Just smile, don’t worry about them,” Natasha whispered in his ear and the flashing increased once more. 

“So you’ve done this before?” he teased, bumping her hip. 

Her response was cut short by a deafening roar of screams from the fans lining the streets. Bruce turned to see one of Tony’s army of cars pull up at the end of the carpet. Tony stepped out of the driver’s seat and the crowd went absolutely wild. He flashed one of those thousand watt smiles of his and waved at the adoring fans. 

“He has,” Natasha laughed and leaned heavily against him. 

They watched Tony run around the car to open the door for Pepper and the two approached the photographers like royalty. 

“Bruce, Natasha,” Tony called out over the all the noise when he saw them. “Glad you could make it.” 

He made a big show of shaking Bruce’s hand and pulled him close to pat him on the back. He took Natasha’s hand and kissed the back of it. 

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Bruce said, tugging at his tie a little, feeling the heat of the overhead lights. 

“It’ll be over soon,” Pepper said calmly, sending him a sympathetic smile. 

He laughed and let out a breath. “How do you get used to all this,” he asked as Lydia urged them to keep moving down the carpet. 

“Lead the way,” Tony said and nudged Bruce forward. 

The next step was a line of eager reporters waiting with camera crews and microphones. The stars of the movie were all talking animatedly to them about the people they were playing. 

Over his shoulder, he saw Tony and Pepper stop at to talk to the first reporter but Lydia wave them on. 

“You don’t have to worry about them, just keep walking,” she told them. 

A few heads turned when they past and Bruce shot a tight smile in the direction of anyone he made eye contact with. He didn’t know how people did this on a regular basis. 

“Right here,” she said toward the end. 

“Dr. Banner, Ms. Romanoff,” the reported greeted them and they stepped onto the small platform she stood on. “How are you this evening?” 

Bruce stared dumbly at the camera lense for a moment before Natasha elbowed him in the side. 

“Good,” he answered.

“We’re glad to be here,” Natasha added, her voice pitched higher than usual. 

“So, it’s been awhile since the world’s needed saving,” the reporter started. “But word on the street is that the two of you have retired from avenging. Can you tell us how the quiet life compares to saving the world?”

“It’s less stressful, that’s for sure,” Natasha answered before Bruce could open his mouth. “But it’s nice.” 

She looked at Bruce and smiled and Bruce was helpless under her soft gaze. 

“I love it.” 

“And if the world needed the Avengers again,” the reporter asked, breaking up their little moment. She held the mic out to them, looking at them pointedly. 

“We’d answer that call,” Natasha answered and her tone left no room for argument. They were done with the conversation. 

“Thank you,” Bruce nodded to the reporter as they stepped down from the platform. 

Lydia lead them on and he heard Natasha whisper that they were ready to go inside. She hurried them forward, apologizing to the reporters who’d wanted to talk to them. Inside the theater was much quieter by comparison. There were small groups of guests milling around the lobby, but he could see people already filling the seats in the theater. 

“You’ll be upstairs with Mr. Stark,” Lydia explained to them pointing at the stairs where two security guards stood. 

“Thank you,” Natasha said, shaking Lydia’s hand. 

“Just doing my job, ma’am.” 

Lydia left them with a little smile and went back outside. 

“Popcorn?” Bruce asked her, nodding at the concession stand. 

“Can you really see a movie without it?” 

“Good point.” 

Once they had their popcorn, they headed for the stairs and found their seats on the second floor balcony. Tony and Pepper joined them a while later, both looking a little worse for wear. 

“How’d it go?” Tony asked, taking off his tux jacket. 

“Fine.”

“Yeah, it’s rough out there.” He laughed and patted Bruce’s back. “But you two will be back out in the middle of nowhere by tomorrow night.” 

“It can’t come soon enough,” Natasha said, leaning forward to look at him across Bruce. 

“What’s the matter, Nat? You haven’t gotten shy on me, have you?” 

Pepper swatted at his chest. “Leave them alone,” she chastised. 

“Come on Pep, they need to loosen up. They’ve spent too long cooped up upstate,” Tony teased. “Live a little guys.” 

“We do just fine, thank you,” Bruce argued. “This is your scene.” 

The lights began to dim and the chattering in the crowd hushed. Tony rubbed his hands together excitedly and shushed them. 

“It’s about to start.” 

Natasha tapped Bruce’s shoulder and leaned in to whisper in his ear. 

“I wonder if his ego could get anymore inflated.”

“I think we’ve hit maximum capacity with the movie,” he whispered back and she chuckled softly. 

“If we have to do another one of these things, I say we take advantage of the hotel bar first.” 

“Agreed,” she whispered and patted his hand. 

She leaned her head against his shoulder and watched film’s opening scene.  

Bruce turned his attention back to the movie screen where the title card read “Iron Man” in big silver letters. Bruce smirked and thought, this’ll be good. 


End file.
